Installation for subdividing a flat workpiece

ABSTRACT

An installation for subdividing a flat elongated workpiece, such as a stack of wood panels, has a first worktable where the stack is formed and straightened out, a second worktable to which the stack is conveyed so that its longitudinal and transverse edges can be trimmed off and the stack sized by saws mounted adjustably on a displaceable traverse and where a piece or pieces can be cut off the leading end of the workpiece and removed laterally. From thence the workpiece is fed through a station where its longitudinal edges are again trimmed and it is transversely subdivided into a plurality of parts. The parts are fed into separate transport mechanisms which can line them up differently so that a single cut of a transverse saw can sever them producing sections of different lengths.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Wilhelm Frodermann Schweicheln-Bermbeck; Heinrich Hagmeister; Karl-Heinz Wittig, Her-ford, Germany [211 App]. No. 767,165 [22] Filed Oct. 14, 1968 [45] Patented Mar. 16,1971 [73] Assignee F. Meyer & Schwabedissen Herford, Westphalia, Germany [32] Priority July 3, 1968 [33] Germany [31] P 17 03 723.9

[5 4] INSTALLATION FOR SUBDIVIDING A FLAT WORKPIECE 3 Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 1415/], 83/47, 83/157, 83/269, 83/420, 83/453, 143/47, 143/55, 143/168 [51] lnt.C|. B2711 /06, B27b /02, B26d 5/22 Field ofSearch 143/1, 38, 46, 47,168, 144/2.1, 3, 3.5; 83/365, 255, 278, 420; 83/44, 47, 157, 269, 408, 453, 423

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,546,831 3/1951 Newell 83/365X 3,032,209 5/1962 Mead 83/453X 3,141,367 7/1964 Kenner et al. 83/420X 3,165,961 1/1965 Hammond..... 143/46X 3,170,351 2/1965 Kryntzky 83/157 3,316,947 5/1967 Lyche et a1. 144/3X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,080,287 4/1960 Germany 143/38 932,417 7/1963 Great Britain 143/47 Primary Examiner-Andrew R. Juhasz Assistant Examiner-Leon Gilden Attorney-Karl F. Ross ABSTRACT: An installation for subdividing a flat elongated workpiece, such as a stack of wood panels, has a first worktable where the stack is formed and straightened out, a second worktable to which the stack is conveyed so that its longitudinal and transverse edges can be trimmed off and the stack sized by saws mounted adjustably on a displaceable traverse and where a piece or pieces can be cut off the leading end of the workpiece and removed laterally. From thence the workpiece is fed through a station where its longitudinal edges are again trimmed and it is transversely subdivided into a plurality of parts. The parts are fed into separate transport mechanisms which can line them up differently so that a single cut of a transverse saw can sever them producing sections of different lengths.

Patented March 16, 1971 3,570,561

4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS. Wilhelm Froclerrpann Heinrich Hagmelsfer Karl-Heinz Wiffig 1 ATTORNEY Patented March 16, 1971 4 Sheets-$heet 2 Wilhelm Frodermann Heinrich Hagmeisfer Karl-Heinz W/Hig INVI'JNIORS.

ATTORNEY Patented March 16, 1971- FIG.4

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG.7

W. Frodcrmann H. Hagme/sfer ATTORNEY Patented March 16, 1971 3,570,561

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

Wilhelm Frodcrmann Heinrich Hagmeisfer Karl-Heinz Wit fig mvm'n m8.

ATTORNEY INSTALLA'IIGN sou sunburn A FLAT woamen Our present invenn'on relates to an installation for subdividing a flat workpiece.

installations usedto cut a large panel or a stack of large elongated panels into a plurality of planks are known in the art. For any of a multitude of reasons, such as economy or retention of a certain direction of grain, it is advantageous to subdivide them according to often intricate patterns of right angles.

These installations generally consist of a large table on which the workpiece, which can be a stack of similarly dimensioned sheets, is clamped. This table can move back and forth under a fixed traverse on which are mounted several saws capable of cutting parallel to and transverse to the table motron.

Such installations have numerous drawbacks. First of all, they are extremely complicated and expensive, demanding near continuous service and requiring extensive control means.

Furthermore, due to the fact that all the saws are mounted on a single traverse, the workpiece can only be cut in one direction at a time, while the saws for the other cuts remain idle.

In addition, the constant back and forth motion of the table necessary to execute the cuts is inefficient, since a great deal of these motions serve merely to line up the workpiece and saws again rather than doing any real work.

It is therefore the object of our invention to provide an installation which overcomes the above-described and other drawbacks.

Our present invention makes use of a first long worktable on which the workpiece, which may be a stack of sheets, is first laid and aligned with the conveyor path. It is subsequently slid along this table to a sawing station where a piece or pieces can be cut off its leading edge or head and whereupon it can be longitudinally and transversely trimmed by a battery of saws mounted on a traverse which itself can move along the worktable. The pieces sawn off the leading end are removed laterally and the remaining shortened workpiece is fed through a further saw station where its longitudinal edges are again trimmed and it is transversely subdivided into a plurality of parts.

These parts are fed onto respective transport mechanisms where they are clamped and aligned. The transport mechanism are independent and can displace the parts through different distances up under a further sawing station. At this final sawing station the parts are all simultaneously cut transversely to the path, thereby producing a plurality of sections of different lengths.

Thus, with the installation according to our invention we can take a large flat workpiece and first cut off a series of pieces having predetermined widths and lengths corresponding to the width of the original workpiece. Subsequently a group of parts are subdivided producing a group of sections having different lengths but with widths corresponding to those of the parts they were cut from. As can be seen, an extremely wide range of sizes can be obtained by out installation.

What is more, due to the existence of only one main transport path of our invention, there is little lost motion, since one workpiece can follow another. Virtually all real work operations are carried out with motion of the workpiece in the forward direction, and very little resetting of tools is necessary to start another cycle. Thus our installation serves to handle a great work load with very little wasted energy.

A key characteristic of this invention is that the saws for longitudinal cutting (transverse subdivision) of the workpiece are fixedly located (with respect to longitudinal displacement) ahead of transport devices equal in number to the transverse subdivisions, the transport devices thus lying downstream of these saws. The independent operability of these transport devices permits single transverse cuts to yield sections of different length. This entire assembly, of course, is located downstream of the head-cutting saws mentioned earlier.

The above-described and other features and advantages of our invention will be more readily apparent in the following, with reference to the drawing in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are side views of the installation according to our invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are top views of the installation shown in FIGS. IA and 18, respectively;

FIG. 3 is a detail of our installation, taken along line III-Ill of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 4 is a detail of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 5 is a further detail of FIG. 2A, taken along line V-V of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 6 is a detail of our installation taken along line Vl-VI of FIG. 2B; and

FIG. 7 is a detail of FIG. 1B.

FIGS. IA and 2A show a first stacking worktable upstream of a second worktable 4 along a transport path generally indicated by arrows TP. A traverse 8 can ride on rails 28 and 291. framing these table 1 and 4 which riding is controlled by a motor shown at 8c. This traverse S-carries longitudinal trim: saws lla and 11b, a transverse trim saw 9, and a transverse cutting saw 10. Near the downstream end of the table 4 are three transverse conveyors on beams 7a, 7b and 7c. The table I is equipped with rollers 2 and the table 4 with similar rollers (not shown) on its upstream end 5 and on its downstream end with transversely spaced wooden rails 6.

FIGS. 18 and ZBshow a longitudinal trimming and sawing station 13 equipped with longitudinal trim saws 14a and 14b and longitudinal cutting saws 15a and 15b followed by rollers 16a and 16b which feed into a final station 18. This station 18' has three independent transport mechanisms 17a, 17b and 17c riding with workpiece clamps 21a, 21b and 210, on rails 75a, 75b and 750, respectively. A reversible drive-roller arrangement 19 can be raised and lowered below the receiving surface defined by rollers 77 of the last station 18.

Upstream along the conveyor path is a sawing station 22 which can transversely out parts W W W fed to it by th transport mechanisms 17a, 17b and 17a.

FIG. 3 shows the transverse arrangement 8 in greater detail. It is made up, in general, of two horizontal I-beams 8a and 8b joined by a further beam 46 and supported on legs 44 and 45 on the rail 28 as shown in this FIG. Riding on the forward portion of the beam 3a is a slider 37 controlled by a cable 50 passing through a lug 4i? and in turn connected to control means (e.g. a programmer) not shown. This slider pivotally carries a hydraulic cylinder 39 and an arm 38. A shaft 40 of the cylinder 39 is pivoted on the arm 38 and the longitudinal trimming saw Ila is mounted at this pivot point. Actuation of this cylinder 39 can move the saw Ila up or down. A similar arrangement is provided for the saw llb.

Behind the beam 8a a cylinder 12 is attached by a flange 1217. A catch lZa actuated by this cylinder can engage behind the trailing end of a workpiece W.

The beam 8b carries a slider 43 controlled by a programoperated cable 48 passing through a lug 47 thereon. Once again the control of this cable 48 itself is not shown since it could be anything known in the art from a simple crank to an electric motor. A cylinder 42 pivoted at 42a on the slider 43 is coupled to the transverse trim saw 9 which is also hung on a pivotal arm dll as in the case of the saw Illa. Actuation of the cylinder 42 controls the up-and-down motion of the saw 9. A similar arrangement is provided for the transverse cutting saw lltl.

FIG. 4 shows one of cylinders 3 and 31 which cooperate with stops 30 and on the opposite side of either the table I or 4 for lining up (straightening) and orienting the workpiece W. The cylinder 3 has a shaft 3b fitted with a roller 3a.

FIG. 5 illustrates the particularly advantageous device employed by our invention to remove pieces W, W", and W' (shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 2A) cut off the end of the workpiece W from the transport path TP. Here an arm 7c is pivoted at one end on a lug 29a on the rail 29 and at the other:

on the shaft 31a of a hydraulic cylinder 31 held in turn on a. bracket 28a on the rail 23.

The arm 70 is fitted on its upper side with a series of projections 33 which are progressively longer towards the cylinder 31. The upper ends of these projections 33 are fitted with rollers which fit between the wood rails 6 and are engageable with the respective workpiece W. Actuation of the cylinder 31 raises the 70 bringing the rollers 34 into contact with the piece W and tilting it at an angle above the receiving surface of rails 6. Once the piece W is fully lifted off the rails 6, it simply rolls to the left in FIG. 5 on the rollers 34 and off the conveyor path.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of stations 13 and 18.

The longitudinal cutting and trimming station 13 has a vertical support 56 supporting one end of an l-beam 85. Riding on forward and rearward sides of this beam 85 respectively are sliders 65 and 66 whose sliding is arrested by setscrews 69 and 70 and which bear flanges 67 and 68 on which saws 15a and 140, respectively are mounted.

A belt 36a spanned between idler pulleys 57 and 58 held on a rod 64 fastened to the support 56 is spaced from a driven belt 62 spanned between pulleys 60, 61 and 71, the first two held by a rod 63 and the last mounted on the support 56. A belt 72 driven by a motor 35 powers the pulley 61.

Upstream of the station 13 are two rollers 16a and 16b mounted on a support 74. The roller 16b is powered through a belt 73 by the motor 35.

The upstream end of the station 18 is shown at the right in FIG. 6. Here a stand 80 supports a beam 76a on which a further l-beam 75a is mounted. The transport mechanism 17a slides on the lower part of this beam 75a, its sliding being controlled by a cable 81 fastened at a lug 83 and passing around a pulley 82. On the lower side of this conveyor or transport mechanism 170 is a clamp cylinder 21a with a foot 21'. This foot 21 can be brought down only far enough so that the trailing edge of the piece part W A abuts it, or can drop all the way and clamp it against the rollers 77 mounted on a beam 78 supported by a stand 79.

Near the middle of the station 18 is the arrangement 19 which can bring a roller 86 into contact with the bottom of a workpiece part W This roller 86 is powered through an elastic belt 84a by a reversible motor 84 and is mounted on the shaft 88 of a hydraulic cylinder 87 in turn mounted on a sup port 89.

An illustrative work cycle of our installation is presented below:

A workpiece W is formed from a plurality of sheets, such as panels of wood or plastic, stacked on top of each other on the first stacking table 1. Once the stack is of the proper thickness,

heights up to and slightly beyond 3 being quite possible, the cylinders 3 are activated to push them against the stops 30 and thereby align them to a certain extent. After this aligning the traverse 8, which by this times should be fully to the left in FIGS. 1A and 2A, moves it along on top of the rollers 2 to the table 4 by engaging it with the catch 124 on the cylinder 12 and simply pushing it.

Once the workpiece W is in position on the table 4 and held in line by the cylinder 31 against the stop 30', the longitudinal trim saws 11a and 1112 are dropped into cutting position by the cylinders 39 (one shown in FIG. 3) and the traverse 8 moves back along the workpiece W trimming off its edges according to a predetermined desired width determined by the programming of the cables 50.

' It is important to note that while this trimming is being carried out on table 4, a new stack can be in the process of formation on the table 1.

After the trimming, the saws 11a and 11b are raised into their inoperative positions and the traverse 8 is once again sent back to the downstream end of the table 4 by the motor 80. There it drops its transverse trim saw 9 by means of its cylinder 42 (FIG. 3) and trims the leading end of the workpiece W along line 23 as this saw 9 is pulled transverse to the transport path TP across the workpiece W. After trimming, the saw 9 is once again lifted out of contact with the workpiece W.

This trimming is followed up by three transverse cuts 24, 25 and 26 carried out by the transverse cutting saw 10 in a manner similar to the above-described trimming operations. The three end pieces W, W and W formed by these cuts 24, 25 and 26 are removed laterally from the transport path T? by actuation of the cylinders 31 (one shown in FIG. 5) raising the beams 711-0 and causing the pieces W, W" and W' to roll off laterally. At the same time; the transverse trimming saw 9 should be back at the trailing end of the workpiece W trimming it along the line 27.

Now the shortened workpiece is again engaged by the catch 12a and the traverse 8 pushes it up through the longitudinal cutting, transverse subdividing station 13 where it is gripped between the belts 36a and 36b (FIG. 6). Immediately after this, the traverse 8 can start its work cycle over again, pushing up another stack, trimming and cutting it, and so on as before.

As this shortened workpiece passes through the station 13 it is again trimmed longitudinally by the saws 14a and 14b and transversely subdivided into three parts W W and W by the saws 15a and I5b,their width depending on the settings of the saws 152 and 15b.

After transverse subdivision the parts W,,, W,, and W are gripped and further advanced by the rollers 16a and 16b onto the rollers 77 of the final station 18 where they are pulled further by the rollers 86 operating at this moment to pull them forward in its upward position. Once their trailing ends are clear of the feet 21 of the transport mechanisms 212, 21b and 21c, these feet 21' (only one shown in FIG. 6) are lowered and the motor 84 is reversed. Thus the parts W W and W ride back and contact these feet 21' whereupon the cylinders 21a, 21b and 210 push them down again this time clamping the parts W W and W against the rollers 77 just under them. At substantially the same time cylinders 20 cooperating with stops 20a align the parts again as the cylinders 3 and the stops 30.

Once all the parts W W and W are clamped at their respective transport mechanisms 17a, 17b and 170 these transport mechanisms are moved through different distances to the right in the FIG. 2b, pushing them through the station 22 to different extents as determined by their settings. How far they are pushed is programmed by the cables 81 (one shown in FIG. 6) or by electric eyes downstream of the station 22, or by other means, e.g. limit switches and stops, well known in the art. Once this alignment is completed, a transverse saw 22a which rides on a beam 22b as the saw 140 makes a single cut through all three parts W,,, W,, and W producing three sections W,,, W, and W, shown in dot-dash lines of different lengths.

Thus, as was shown, starting with a large workpiece W consisting of a stack of sheets, first they are trimmed, then pieces W, W" and W' cut oi? the leading end, then again trimmed and transversely subdivided into parts W W and W and finally these parts are cut into sections W,,, W, and W, of different lengths. Obviously, the sizes and shapes of the pieces produced by such an installation are extremely variable thus permitting a wide range of use of the single installation.

In one extremely advantageous embodiment, all the settings and the work operation could be controlled at a central point by a programmer. However, if desired, all the various settings could simply be done by operational personnel as the workpieces progress through the machine. The machine described above has been found to increase the output of a panel-sawing installation by up to percent.

Each of the saws described is advantageously a circular saw provided with a hood and a vacuum device for removing unwanted sawdust.

The improvement described and illustrated is believed to admit of many modifications within the ability of persons skilled in the art, all such modifications being considered within the spirit and scope of the invention except as limited by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An installation for subdividing a tlat workpiece in the form of a stack of elongated sheets comprising:

means for displacing a flat workpiece along a generally straight path and including a stacking table for receiving said sheets;

first saw means at an upstream portion of said path but downstream of said table for longitudinally cutting said workpiece into at least two parts;

second saw means downstream of said first saw means along said path for transversely cutting said parts into respective sections;

at least two respective transport mechanisms extending parallel to each other downstream of said first saw means along said path and independently operable to displace said parts through different distances along said path whereby said second saw means can sever said parts into sections of difierent lengths;

straightening means along said table for longitudinally orienting the sheets of said stack;

a traverse displaceable along said table and provided with a selectively operable catch engageable with a trailing edge of said stack for displacing same along said table;

third saw means mounted on said traverse for movement thereon back and forth athwart said table for trimming said stack and for cutting a piece thereoff at a leading end of said stack, said table being provided with an array of rollers at a forward end thereof normally lying below the stack-supporting surface of said table but tiltable upwardly to remove said piece from said table;

fourth saw means adjustably mounted on said traverse for longitudinally trimming the workpiece prior to cutting said piece thereoff by said third saw means;

fifth saw means for longitudinally trimming the workpiece after removal of said piece therefrom between said first and said fourth saw means, said first, third and fifth saw means being mounted for adjustment transversely to said path, all of said saw means being circular saws; and

means for fixing the workpiece during cutting by said second, third, and fourth saw means.

2. The installation defined in claim 1 wherein said first saw is longitudinally fixed along said path.

3. The installation defined in claim 2, further comprising 

1. An installation for subdividing a flat workpiece in the form of a stack of elongated sheets comprising: means for displacing a flat workpiece along a generally straight path and including a stacking table for receiving said sheets; first saw means at an upstream portion of said path but downstream of said table for longitudinally cutting said workpiece into at least two parts; second saw means downstream of said first saw means along said path for transversely cutting said parts into respective sections; at least two respective transport mechanisms extending parallel to each other downstream of said first saw means along said path and independently operable to displace said parts through different distances along said path whereby said second saw means can sever said parts into sections of different lengths; straightening means along said table for longitudinally orienting the sheets of said stack; a traverse displaceable along said table and provided with a selectively operable catch engageable with a trailing edge of said stack for displacing same along said table; third saw means mounted on said traverse for movement thereon back and forth athwart saiD table for trimming said stack and for cutting a piece thereoff at a leading end of said stack, said table being provided with an array of rollers at a forward end thereof normally lying below the stack-supporting surface of said table but tiltable upwardly to remove said piece from said table; fourth saw means adjustably mounted on said traverse for longitudinally trimming the workpiece prior to cutting said piece thereoff by said third saw means; fifth saw means for longitudinally trimming the workpiece after removal of said piece therefrom between said first and said fourth saw means, said first, third and fifth saw means being mounted for adjustment transversely to said path, all of said saw means being circular saws; and means for fixing the workpiece during cutting by said second, third, and fourth saw means.
 2. The installation defined in claim 1 wherein said first saw is longitudinally fixed along said path.
 3. The installation defined in claim 2, further comprising means for adjusting said fourth saw means transverse to said path on said traverse. 